Trendsetters: The games that defined their genre

From the great to the ghastly - find out which games shaped the genres as we know them in our ongoing weekly series

Now that PS3 hastaken rootand next-gen begins to settle into this-gen, we can really start to get excited. The wealth and quality of titles like Gears of War and Motorstorm flooding into existence is staggering, yet developers have barely scratched the surface of the capabilities the new technology now affords them.

So where do we go from here? As game makers seek to push the boundaries of what we know and expect from videogames, we take a look at the titles that have defined the most popular genres, which unforgettable gems the developers have to measure up to and which stinkers they'd do best to avoid. Don’t expect to find any cookie cutter clones here.